William 'Billy' Durant statue heads to foundry for bronzing

Joe Rundell's sculpture of General Motors founder William "Billy" Durant is headed for a Clarkston foundry to be set in bronze. Scott Atkinson | MLive.com

FLINT, MI -- The downtown statue plaza already featuring two automotive giants -- Louis Chevrolet and David Buick -- will soon be complete with the man who brought them there: General Motors founder William "Billy" Durant.

"This really sums up the plaza. It puts the final touches on it," said Al Hatch, founder of Back to the Bricks. Back to the Bricks started its effort to put statues of automotive figures throughout the city in 2012. The plaza sits on the east side of downtown Saginaw Street between First Street and Kearsley Street.

"Having him in the center of these two automotive names, he's the guy who brought them to Flint, and at least got them started. Of course, they both split off and went their own ways, but he's the guy that got them here. He was the idea guy, I guess, the motivator," Hatch said.

Hatch and other members of Back to the Bricks met at sculptor Joe Rundell's home to see the clay statue off Tuesday, May 21, as it made its way to a Clarkston foundry to be set in bronze.

Durant is depicted wearing a big smile and a hat, with one hand gripping his lapel. Rundell said his Chevrolet statue -- his first -- is still his favorite, but he's happy with how Durant turned out.

The Durant statue, he said, had some elements to it that made it difficult. He wanted him smiling -- working from a side profile picture of Durant -- and said that sculpting hands is always tough. Some sculptors, he said, will put their subject's hands in their pockets or behind their backs to avoid having to work on them, something he didn't want to do.

"I try to think of what the best pose is, and if the hands are out, I do them that way," he said.

There were also some details that Dale and Mary McClelland, who funded the statue, said they wanted to be sure were included, such as a rag hanging out of Durant's coat pocket.

"You wouldn't go on a motoring trip back then without a rag in your pocket," Dale McClelland said.

McClelland said he was excited to be a part of the Back to the Bricks statue project, particularly to promote Flint's history. He said he thinks Detroit gets most of the credit for the start of the auto industry and wishes more people recognized Flint.

"People forget," he said of Flint's automotive history. "Whatever has evolved had to start someplace."

As the former owner of Financial Tax and Planning in Flint Township (their first office was a block from the statue plaza, he said) he also wants people to know about who Durant was as a businessman, praising him for his integrity.

"He bought and sold businesses on a handshake. You don't see that anymore," he said.

For Joe Rundell, it's an end to a lot of work. He said he had put in about 12 hours of work on the final touches on the statue the day before and didn't go to bed until 4:45 a.m.

The work isn't over yet, though. As soon as funds are available, Rundell will schedule the time when he'll begin sculpting Charles Nash, an early president of GM and Buick.

Each statue costs about $40,000 to sculpt, bronze and set in place in a granite- platform. The statue is expected to be unveiled Aug. 17 during the Back to the Bricks car show.